Saudi Grand Mufti declares violation of traffic laws haram and a major sin

The most senior religious authority, or the Grand Mufti, Abdulaziz al-Shaikh has recently reiterated through a fatwa that breaking signals and violating other traffic laws is a major sin and haram.

He said that it is a major sin, further citing the a verse from the Holy Quran, “if you kill one person unjustly it is as if you killed the whole humanity, and if you saved once person it is as if you saved the whole humanity.”

Saudi Arabia has one of the world’s highest fatality rates in the world, according to Gulf News, an average of 17 fatalities a day happen in the country and as per Saudia’s General Directorate of Traffic, a third of them occur due to people ignoring traffic lights.

So this isn’t the first time, the Grand Mufti has declared a fatwa against such violations, in 2010, he said that anyone who caused a death of someone else because of such a violation will be charged guilty of unvoluntary man slaughter.